Is Microsoft About to Become as Cool as a Ford Taurus?

Insiders at Microsoft are telling one tech reporter that Ford CEO Alan Mulally is now the leading candidate to replace Steve Ballmer at Microsoft.

Or perhaps a Ford Fiesta?

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If so, it’s notable that the powers in Redmond are looking for an executive who’s best known as a turnaround specialist: He saved Ford from the jaws of the Great Recession to make it the only American automaker that didn’t need a government bailout. Do the folks at Microsoft think the company needs a similarly drastic turnaround? Or was that already implied in the company’s shift to becoming at “device and services” company?

People with knowledge of the situation said that while the 68-year-old Mulally — who has been CEO of Ford for seven years and is a well-known business star — was not seeking the job at first, he has become more amenable to the idea in recent weeks.

For our part, we think it would be a natural fit, as Microsoft Windows is essentially the Ford Taurus of operating systems: You use it because that’s what your mom bought you.